| |
| |
| Introduction | |
| |
| |
| Searching the Heavens | |
| |
| |
| Ever since humans first gathered in groups, people have searched the heavens | |
| |
| |
| Our ancestors looked to the skies for messages from the gods to guide them, celestial signs telling when to reap and sow | |
| |
| |
| And even today, thousands of years later, we retain a fascination with the sky, though for different reasons. | |
| |
| |
| Astronomy through the ages | |
| |
| |
| Sky gods | |
| |
| |
| Archaeostronomy | |
| |
| |
| Scientific beginnings | |
| |
| |
| The development of astronomy tools | |
| |
| |
| Observatories | |
| |
| |
| Major space centers | |
| |
| |
| Space observatories | |
| |
| |
| Hubble Space Telescope | |
| |
| |
| Radio astronomy | |
| |
| |
| Infrared astronomy | |
| |
| |
| UV astronomy | |
| |
| |
| X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy | |
| |
| |
| The space race | |
| |
| |
| Mission milestones | |
| |
| |
| Space disasters | |
| |
| |
| Spacecraft | |
| |
| |
| Space stations | |
| |
| |
| A history of unmanned probes | |
| |
| |
| Solar and lunar probes | |
| |
| |
| Asteroid and comet probes | |
| |
| |
| Terrestrial planet probes | |
| |
| |
| Gas planet probes | |
| |
| |
| The Solar System | |
| |
| |
| The Solar System is our home in space, a prime piece of celestial real estate some 4600 million years old | |
| |
| |
| This is the planetary system that contains the Sun, the nine known planets -- Earth among them -- and countless small but equally interesting chunks of debris called comets and asteroids. | |
| |
| |
| Formation of the Solar System | |
| |
| |
| The modern Solar System | |
| |
| |
| Future of the Solar System | |
| |
| |
| The planets | |
| |
| |
| Mercury | |
| |
| |
| Venus | |
| |
| |
| Earth | |
| |
| |
| Mars | |
| |
| |
| Jupiter | |
| |
| |
| Saturn | |
| |
| |
| Uranus | |
| |
| |
| Neptune | |
| |
| |
| Pluto | |
| |
| |
| The Sun | |
| |
| |
| The Moon | |
| |
| |
| Solar eclipses | |
| |
| |
| Lunar eclipses | |
| |
| |
| Meteors and meteorites | |
| |
| |
| Asteroids | |
| |
| |
| Comets | |
| |
| |
| Beyond Pluto | |
| |
| |
| Stars, Galaxies and Celestial Light | |
| |
| |
| Beyond the Solar System, things take on an extremely new scale. Stars are strewn across the Milky Way Galaxy like grains of sand many miles apart | |
| |
| |
| They share their home with a whole host of celestial lights called nebulae | |
| |
| |
| And then, beyond our own galaxy, there are hundreds of billions of others. | |
| |
| |
| Celestial clouds | |
| |
| |
| What is a star? | |
| |
| |
| Lifecycle of a star | |
| |
| |
| Binaries, multiples and variables | |
| |
| |
| Star clusters | |
| |
| |
| Star death: planetary nebulae | |
| |
| |
| Star death: supernovae | |
| |
| |
| Star death: black wholes | |
| |
| |
| Galaxy classification | |
| |
| |
| Spiral galaxies | |
| |
| |
| Elliptical galaxies | |
| |
| |
| Lenticular galaxies | |
| |
| |
| Irregular galaxies | |
| |
| |
| Active and radio galaxies | |
| |
| |
| Quasars | |
| |
| |
| Galaxy clusters | |
| |
| |
| Galaxy birth | |
| |
| |
| Galaxy evolution | |
| |
| |
| The Night Sky | |
| |
| |
| The night sky is more than just the Moon and a few dozen constellations of stars | |
| |
| |
| Planets, nebulae, clusters of stars and even a few galaxies are all visible with the unaided eye | |
| |
| |
| And with modest equipment such as a pair of binoculars or a small telescope, the celestial dome takes on a whole new dimension. | |
| |
| |
| Understanding the night sky | |
| |
| |
| Mapping the heavens | |
| |
| |
| The spinning Earth | |
| |
| |
| Constellations and the zodiac | |
| |
| |
| Beginning astronomy | |
| |
| |
| Choosing and using binoculars | |
| |
| |
| Choosing and using telescopes | |
| |
| |
| Reading the star maps | |
| |
| |
| Whole sky overview | |
| |
| |
| Monthly stars of the northern skies | |
| |
| |
| Monthly stars of the southern skies | |
| |
| |
| The Universe | |
| |
| |
| Our understanding of the Universe today is very different from what it was just 10 years ago | |
| |
| |
| The very fabric of space and time is now seen as inextricably interwoven with a mysterious "dark energy" about which we know next to nothing | |
| |
| |
| And this is just one example of the many unknowns that astronomers struggle with daily. | |
| |
| |
| Formation of the Universe | |
| |
| |
| Evidence for the Big Bang | |
| |
| |
| Our place in the Universe | |
| |
| |
| Life in the Universe | |
| |
| |
| Gamma ray bursters | |
| |
| |
| Wormholes | |
| |
| |
| Dark matter | |
| |
| |
| Dark energy | |
| |
| |
| Future of the Universe | |
| |
| |
| Factfile | |
| |
| |
| Glossary | |
| |
| |
| Index | |